no no no no, stick to the status quo

"It's a shame not to get pregnant here." The man speaking was perfectly serious. No, he wasn't using a bizarre pickup line – he was referring to Sweden's policy of parent worship That's right, a year and a half paid pregnancy leave split between mom and dad.

I know a young, American, pregnant woman who has been working here for around a year. When she found out she was pregnant, she was nervous about telling her boss because she was a new hire. To her surprise, he was excited and supportive of her condition. Work philosophy is different here.

Things I like:

-tubes that are sealed shut and have a little pointy thing on top that you can flip over and use to pierce them. (harder to describe than you'd think)

-bus drivers who wait an extra couple seconds because they see you hurtling towards them like a mad(wo)man

-people who already know how to pronounce my name

-and can spell it

-children

**

I once put up an online bulletin trying to get more volunteers at an elementary school. I titled it "Like kids? A whole lot?" The inside of the post explained that we needed volunteers to come hang out and help with homework.

The one response? "You should think about changing the title of your post."

**

It's amazing the things bored people will do to fill up their time. I've always enjoyed reading the internet forwards about spicing up your life. I think my favorite suggestion was: End every sentence with the phrase "In accordance with the prophecy." I still get a kick out of that.

**

Intelligence is an interesting concept. Geniuses and dummies aside, what do you mean when you call someone smart? Do they have a lot of trivia type information in their heads? Do they pick concepts up really quickly? Do they have an ability to understand more than the average person? (ie. maybe they don't pick things up quickly, but can comprehend more)

I've known some extremely intuitive/perceptive people who aren't skilled at language or numbers, but who can communicate and understand interpersonal relations exceptionally well.

We've all known the seemingly vacuous classmate who can barely find their way out of a room, but who pulls straight A's.

When someone is described as "smart" to me, I either assume a philosophical conversationalist who is well read, or a math/sciencey/nerdy type.

But hey, apparently everything you thought about study habits – including visual/audio learners and right/left brain learners is wrong.

Small Talk Question : Would you rather be exceedingly intelligent and mildly beautiful or mildly intelligent and exceedingly beautiful? Which would get you farther careerwise? relationshipwise? happinesswise?

**

Last night I babysat a 4-year-old named Inaru. She had a wonderful drawer labeled "Make Believe" containing tiaras and fluffy pink skirts and bits of shiny fabric and outfits. I told her I wanted to be a princess. She refused and told me that I would be a dog. So I spent the next ten minutes barking and walking around on all fours as she told me what I could do.

She later asked me if I was an adult, or still a kid. This was the first time I had been asked this question. After assuring her that I was the most responsible, intelligent example of a grownup she could encounter, I turned the question around on her. (One cheap shot deserves another.)

"Are you still just a kid, or are you an adult?"
"No, but I will be one soon."
"How soon?"
"In a few days I think."

**

Babysitting is ideal rehab for recovering sarcastics. Sarcasm simply doesn't translate well to a four-year-old, and when nobody is chuckling at your remarkably pithy comments, you lose your drive.

Case in point: The daughter of a family we were eating with asked my brother and me where ours other siblings were.

I shook my head and said, "We don't talk about them much."

"Really? Why?"

"Because they aren't as attractive as we are."

She just looked at me. My brother, sitting next to her, gave me a look before turning to her:
"We pay her to say things like that."

Again, silence.